The young man had an uneasy idea that Adelaide was poking fun at him, but her face was so grave that he dismissed the idea, and it was then that he felt himself stirred by a dim conception of the region in which the thoughts of this beautiful young woman wandered and ranged.
"What I was really thinking of all the time," he said, with a laugh that somehow conveyed a regret that his thoughts were on a plane so much lower than hers, "was how I shall prevail on your uncle to convey to the railway company a right of way through his land. It means a great deal to me."
"Oh, that is why you are here!" exclaimed Adelaide. "Well, I was wondering." She regarded him very seriously for a moment and he felt that he had fallen a notch in her estimation. "If you'll take my advice," she said, "you will leave the whole affair to Randall."
"But how can I? Randall is a negro. I'm sure I don't understand what you mean!" His pride, his self-esteem, had been wounded to the very core, and his face was very red.
"Yes, leave it to Randall and Mr. Sanders," Adelaide replied, "and you'd not lose anything if you could manage to introduce the ghost of your grandfather." This was said airily, but it had far more meaning that young Somers was able to read into it.
"I never saw just such a place as this is," he remarked somewhat petulantly, "where the people can only help you along by means of riddles and parables and jokes. Mr. Sanders tells me to say nothing to your uncle about the business on which I have been sent. And then he says that I already have a royal straight flush in my hand. What am I to infer from that?"
Young Somers, without intending it, revealed the essential boyishness of his nature, and Adelaide relished it immensely. "You are to infer just what he intended you should," she declared. "The jokes of Mr. Sanders mean a great deal more than another man's wisdom. You'll discover that for yourself when you come to know him well."
"But you can't do business by means of jokes," the young fellow protested.
"That's the way Mr. Sanders transacts his business," Adelaide responded, "and he's a very prosperous man. As for your grandfather's ghost, Uncle Jonas will raise it if you give him half an opportunity. You'll learn a great deal from Mr. Sanders and Uncle Jonas if you stay here long enough." The expression of her face was demureness itself, but the blue eyes sparkled with humour.
Now, young Somers was neither slow nor dull, but the peculiar atmosphere he found at Shady Dale was something new in his experience, and he was compelled to tunnel through it before he could clearly understand it. His business training, as far as it had gone, and all his business associations, had accustomed him to methods of procedure that were not only direct, but blunt. He never went around obstacles but through or over them. But he knew, after giving the matter some consideration, and after discovering that the ordinary commercial and cold-blooded methods would be useless here, that he would have to enter into the spirit of the place. He was a very attractive young man when at his best, and he made himself more attractive than ever by acquiring a quick sympathy for the things that interested the sincere and simple people about him.